Laced boot or shoe



(No Model.)

E. L. KEITH.

LAOED BOOT OR SHOE. No. 451,694.

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ELMER L. KEITH, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LACED BOOTV 0R SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters :Patent No. 451,694, dated May 5, 1891. Application inea september 1, 1890. 'saai No. 363,656. (no model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER L. KnlTH, of Brocktomin the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Laced Boots'or Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates particularly to socalled Balmoral boots, which have high quarters and a front -opening between the quarters, the edges of which are secured by lacings.

The invention has for its object, first, to provide a boot of this class in which the front opening shall be capable of being easily and quickly expanded to permit the removal and application of the boot, and as quickly contracted to secure the boot to the foot of the wearer.

The invention also has for its object to provide al1 improved form of lacing hook or guide adapted to receive a lacing and permit its free endwise movement without permitting the lacing to be disengaged from the hook by lateral movement.

The invention also hasfor its object to provide certain improvements in laced boots in which the lacing-cords run through hooks or guides attached to the quarters, whereby the position of the hooks or guides may be automatically adjusted to the conformity of the foot.

To these ends the invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure l represents a perspective vieW of a Balmoral boot constructed in accordance with my invention, the lacings being removed. Fig. 2 represents a perspective View of the upper portion of the boot, showing the laoings in place and drawn taut to bring the edges of the quarters together. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 represents a view of the blank from which the lacing hook or guide, forming a part of my improvement, is made. Fig. 5 represents an edge view of the said hook or guide, and Fig. 6 represents a top view of the same.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the gures.

In the drawings, ca represent the quarters of a laced boot or shoe, the general construction of which may be of the usual kind. To the edges of said quarters are secured two series of lacing hooks or guides b, the hooks or guides of one series being arranged adjacent to those of the other series, as shown in Figs. I, 2, and 3. 1 Each hook or guide is composed of au elongated shank 2, having an eyelet 3 formed near its rear end, and a head or hook portion 4, which is formed by bending over the other end of the shank, as shown in Fig. 5. The shank 2 is sufficiently elongated to permit the attachment o1" its rear end by the eyelet 3 to the lining of the quarter or to a tab c of leather, attached at its inner edge to the quarter, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the hook portion 4 at the same time projecting over the outer surface of the quarter. The said hook portion is also elongated, so that it projects Well back from the edge of the quarter, as shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, the inner side of the hook bearing upon the outer surface of the quarter, so that the lacing CZ, which passes through the loop or eye which exists between the edge of the quarter and the bend or neck which unites the hook por tion 4 to the shank 2, cannot become disengaged'from the hook by lateral movement, the edge of the quarter preventing the lacing from slipping out from under the hook. willJbe seen that the series of hooks, formed and applied as shown, Will furnisha series of eyes `at the edges of the quarters, said eyes receiving the lacings d and permitting them to move freely endwise, both when the quarters are being pulled outwardly preparatory to the removal of the shoe or its application to the foot and when the lacings are being pulled to draw the .edges of the quarters together.

The hooks, formed, as described, with the elongated shanks 2 and the elongated heads or hook portions 4, are adapted to be cheaply and expeditiously made, each from a single piece of metal, in much the same manner as an ordinary lacinghook is made.

As before stated, I prefer to attach the hooks b to leather tabs c, which are placed inside the quarters and are attached at their inner edges to the quarter and its lining by a line of stitches s or other suitable fastenings, said tabs being free or unattached at IOC- their outer ends. The tabs c give the hooks a certain freedom of adjustment by permitting them to swing vertically along the edges of the quarters, and thus enable the hooks to adjust themselves to the form or shape of the Wearers foot or instep more perfectly than they could be adjusted if they Were attached directly to the lining or to a part of the upper, having less freedom of movement than the tabs c. The said tabs, being of small size, can be made of scraps of leather which would otherwise be Waste material. Hence they add materially to the usefulness of the boot without increasing its expense.

If desired, each hook may have a prong or spud 6 struck up from its body portion and bent upwardly toward the hook portion 4, as shown in Fig. 5, said prong being arranged to bear against the edge of the quarter, and thus form a guard or stop to prevent the lacing from slippingr out from under the hook, said guard or stop being more rigid or positive than the edge of the quarter which performs the same function as above described.

I claim- I. The combination, with thc quarters d (t of a boot 0r shoe, ot' the tabs c, attached at their inner edges to the inner sides of said quarters, the lacing hooks or guides having eyeleted shanks attached to the free ends or edges of said tabs at the inner sides of the quarters, and elongated hooks or outer portions bent over the edges of the quarters and beari ng upon their outer surfaces, as set forth.

2. The improved lacinghook or guide composed of the shank 2, the eyelet '3 at one end of said shank, the elongated hook et at the other end of the shank, and the prong [3,hent up from the shank under the hook 4. and arranged to bear against the edge of the quarter of a boot or shoe to which the hook is connected and prevent the lacing from slipping out from under the hook, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specilication, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 29th day ot August, A. I). 1300.

ELMER Il. KEITH.

\\"itnesses:

ARTHUR L. COPELAND, S. FRANKLiN PACKARD. 

